Christmas Time

Christmas has come and gone, so that means some new baby photos of course and I begin my recovery from overeating.

Ashley turned 32 (she is getting old) and we did 32 x 400 on the track.  Not much of a suffer-fest and ended up being pretty darn fun.  We, or should we say "I," wanted Ashley to tell one thing that happened each year at the beginning of each lap.  It went like this:

32: I had a baby
31:
30: We moved
29: "I have to do this every time!?  I don't remember. Can't we just run!" Yes, we can.

So we got three years out of the deal.

Ryah is now 7 months old- Crazy- that little bugger has certainly brought changes to my life.  She is great and seems to feel the best when she gets her two naps daily and an outing.  No much of a surprise, but she doesn't like to sit at home.

I am actually seeing a lot of similarities between her and myself.  For instance:

1) I like to eat large amounts of food 8 times a day
2) I feel best when I get to take long naps often
3) I often fall into a deep drolling sleep before 8:00

I am starting to think more about what races I want to do in 2012.  I put in for the Leadville 100 mountain bike race on a bit of a whim.  I am still at the point where I get excited if I don't crash during a ride, but my skills are improving slowly. We shall see.

It is a goal to write a bit more consistently here this upcoming year.  As it goes with the best of intentions, often they are swept aside by working, life at home, parenting, training and sleeping.  Yet, it would be nice.

Ash may write a bit more later, but as for me- Merry Late Christmas and I will try to write more soon.

Josh

Baby Steps

Since Josh changed the title of his blog to "Life as WE go," I am considering that permission for me to jump on and post. I have a few minutes right now while Ryah is napping, so I thought I could sneak onto the computer. Based on the length of her recent naps, I may just have five minutes. At the pace she is growing these days, it means she expects it is time to eat about every hour, or really, whenever she looks at me. I don't believe she sees me and thinks, "Yeah, there is mommy." Its more like, "Yeah, there is lunch #3." How a baby goes from the 5th percentile in weight to the 80th, in just four months, is beyond me. Obviously, she is doing fantastic and continues to make up for lost time- and then some. Its hard to believe she is already four months old. She loves being outdoors- I think she enjoys going to races as much as we do. I still laugh when I think about how I was worrying about her while I was pacing Darla at Where's Waldo 100k- I hope she isn't fussing too much for Josh, I hope she is OK, etc. When I get to the finish line, I see Josh, but no baby. She was off being taken care of by everyone at the race- pretty much every spectator, racer, and volunteer held, fed, and played with her, and she didn't fuss one time while I was gone. One day I will tell her she was so special even Dave Mackey held her.

On the running side of things, tomorrow is the first annual Bend Marathon. Today, I plan to sign up- talk about procrastination. Before I committed, I wanted to see how the Bachelor Butte Half would go last weekend. It felt great- I kept waiting for the wheels to fall off, so I ran with a sort of hesitation, expecting any mile I might regret racing. I still don't have a good sense of my pace and effort levels, or knowing how long I can sustain something. So, it was a pleasant surprise to get to the finish and feel like there was more left in the tank. It's amazing to me, considering two months ago, I could barely run five miles at a ten minute pace. The body does hold onto some muscle memory. At this point, I am just happy to be running, so anything else feels like a bonus. It was such an overall great day- seeing everyone, being a part of a race again, and having my dad come with us to watch Ry so both Josh and I could run. Getting a taste of that post race runner's high sparked my desire to run the Bend Marathon.

Normally, I would hesitate to run a marathon. My body doesn't like roads, and I normally shy away from things that require leg turnover. However, this race is so hard to resist. For one, it starts here in Sisters, three miles away from our house. It is also almost half on gravel, and the whole second half of the race is uphill, so I think that helps the body and my revulsion to running fast. My real hesitation (other than the crazy high cost) was that oath I made about being smart in training and listening to the more reasonable side of my brain rather than the "I want to run..." side. I have been really good since overcoming the latest set-back, and run pain free for almost three weeks now. I'm not really ready to run 26 miles, and the last thing I want to do is be forced to take another chunk of time off for being overambitious. So, I am calling this a training run, and promising myself to run it smart and just enjoy the local atmosphere of the event. At this stage, just the act of signing up for a race and being able to pin on a bib number is pretty exciting. I am actually anticipating the drive to Bend tonight to sign that waiver form, and get my little goody bag =)  Its been a long year, and I appreciate every run so much more- the ones that feel amazing, the ones where I am pushing Ryah in a stroller and realize I really do need to get some upper body strength,  and even the ones that feel like I had to take 6+ months off.


And for the record- Ryah did not sleep through this whole posting- I typed half of it one handed while holding her in the other. Just one more lesson in multi-tasking. Looking forward to a fun day tomorrow!
- Ashley

Birth Story

In Ryah's baby book, there is a page titled "Birth Story." It gives you about five lines to write about the experience leading up to baby's big debut. I figure I might have to type her story just to get it to fit into the allotted space.  While Ryah is now only 2.5 weeks old, it seems like she has already had enough "adventures" to fill several pages.

It seems only fitting that the way we found out I was pregnant with Ryah was by me running a 50k- something felt off, and three days later we learned why. The Flagline 50k will now have a special place in our memory. Despite the challenge of the day, I now just look back at that race and think of Ryah's ultra debut- actually it was her second ultra, since the weekend before "we" had run for 14 hours pacing a friend at Pine to Palm 100. Her little life began in a very fitting manor.

Ryah's ultra debut

We didn't exactly cruise through the rest of the pregnancy. At five months we learned her placenta was low lying. I had to stop running, and we monitored it closely with additional ultrasounds. Through these visits we then learned that she was small for her "age." At 36 weeks, her size dropped below the 10th percentile, and there was talk of immediately delivering her. Luckily, the doctors decided to give her a little more chance to grow. They put me on bedrest, and we spent the next three weeks driving to Bend for additional ultrasounds and fetal monitoring.

At 39 weeks I was induced.
Of course, the next stage couldn't be a sprint- ultra training came into play. Apparently, Ryah had not been informed it was her time to come into the world. After 32 hours of labor, her heart rate started to decelerate, and the doctor opted for a C-section to safely deliver her. It started as a regular procedure- music was playing, the nurses were joking around, and then they checked her heart rate again and it had plummeted. Suddenly everything became rushed and Josh barely made it into the room before they had her out. It took her 2.5 minutes to breathe on her own.

Despite the rocky beginning,  Ryah is doing amazing. She weighed 5 lbs. 15 ounces at birth, surprising the doctors and nurses who were prepared for a much smaller little girl. She passed her two week check up with flying colors and she has already grown an inch since her birth.  Our yellow lab has taken it upon herself to be Ryah's protector, and she follows us around the house whenever we carry the baby.

By the time I am allowed to run, she will hopefully be big enough for the baby jogger. Just like her parents, she loves to be moving.

Peter's birthday run

Your father-in-law only turns 60 once so you better do something fun-   We decided to run, what a surprise.

We celebrated THREE BIRTHDAY actually- Dennis turned 40, John 50 and Peter 60

Since it is a birthday party run we needed to have some goals.  Runners always have goals.

Today's goal was to bag as many peaks as possible, or at least 6!

Dimple came first!  We made it!

We lived to challenge McCulloch Peak next.

Survival was questioned, but we made it.  Off to gather the rest of the group and onto Price Peak.  We didn't know what we were in for. 

 Off we went with Peter leading the way.  Last minute instructions were in order.

This is where Peter began to explain there was no trail up to Price Peak!  Then we stopped and explained again that we were not lost and there are multiple ways to the top.  It is good to have options.

It was a bit frigid on top of Price Peak and there is a concrete block.  We took turns standing on it!

With the hardest and coldest challenge over we had 3 more peaks to bag.  Not without proper nutrition, Ashley and Vicki packed in some nutritious snacks.  This included peanut M&M's, licorice, Pepsi, and of course other natural whole foods. 

 

Then to Lookout!

On to Lunch Counter!

Up Forest Peak! Where only the strong survive!

Then over to Indian Hill.

Down we went...

  

and the party began!

Happy Birthday!